


Fools in Love

by mac_andcheeses



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Pregnancy, jolex, season 13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28998963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mac_andcheeses/pseuds/mac_andcheeses
Summary: Alex and Jo find their way back to one another after 12x24
Relationships: Alex Karev & Jo Wilson, Alex Karev/Jo Wilson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Fools in Love

**Author's Note:**

> mac is pretending her WIPs don't exist. please join me in this state of denial. 
> 
> for the meantime...here's your daily dose of jolex content in celebration of nina's birthday. gotta love a good old s13 pregnancy fic. 
> 
> enjoy xoxo 
> 
> and HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINA 🎉

He couldn’t stop thinking about the last time they’d spoken to one another, standing outside by the fireplace, metres apart from one another, like two strangers in the night. To hear her say his own words back to him, to repeat the vile things he’d said to her out of anger and frustration, was agonizing. She wasn’t trash, and he didn’t believe that for one second, but he could tell that she doubted that. Jo doubted his love for her. 

“Hey,” Alex approached her in the parking lot, “do you think we could talk?” 

“I think we managed to say more than enough last night, thank you,” she snapped back, repulsed by his presence. “Now, if you excuse me, I have rounds to get to.” 

“Jo, please!” he ran after her, determined to get a word in edgeways to try and apologize again. Alex knew she wouldn't forgive him easily but he was determined to continue trying to make amends until she did. 

Unfortunately, Jo was less than pleased by his determination. “Just leave me alone, wouldn’t you?” she begged, walking slightly faster away from him in the opposite direction. “If you think this is going to help then, you’re wrong,” she yelled over her shoulder. 

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry again,” Alex jogged after Jo, his hand brushing against hers as he attempted to stop her in her path. 

“I get that, Alex!” her volume rose significantly, clearly losing her patience at him. “But,” she said, lowering her voice to deter the stares now aimed their way, “no matter how sorry you are, it doesn’t change what you did. I don’t want to talk to you, so please respect that and leave me alone.” 

Alex’s face softened, sensing the sadness in her voice. “Will you come to me when you’re ready?” 

“What?” her focus shifted, ignoring his latest pleas as dizziness took over. 

“Jo?” Alex reached out to steady her, hands to her hips, helping Jo sit down on the wooden bench to her right. “Talk to me, what’s wrong?” his whole demeanor changed, suddenly screaming worry instead of desperation. “Are you okay?” 

She squeezed her eyes shut, blocking the stars she was seeing. Nausea built up next, causing Jo to press a hand to her pursed lips in an attempt to hold down anything threatening to bubble upwards. “I’m fine,” she groaned unconvincingly. 

“You’re clearly not fine, Jo,” Alex rolled his eyes. “Take a breath and tell me what’s wrong,” he laid a hand on her knee, however, wasn’t surprised when she swatted it away a second later. 

“I’m late for rounds,” she dismissed him quickly and pushed herself off the bench to distance herself. “You don’t need to worry about me anymore. We’re not together, we’re done” she adjusted her bag on her shoulder before walking towards the back entrance of the hospital. 

Her words hit him like a truck. ‘ _ We’re not together, we’re done _ ’ echoing painfully within him as the reality of their separation set in. He didn’t want them to be finished. He didn’t want to have a life without her in it beside him. Watching Jo walk away, her loose curls swaying in the wind, all Alex wanted to do was pull her back to him. Not just because he missed being with her, but because he was worried about her too. She was obviously feeling unwell and, knowing Jo, she wasn’t going to take it easy either. He just didn’t want her getting hurt. 

  
  


*******

  
  


“Your girlfriend is sick,” Meredith grumbled, waiting for him at the OR scrub sink. 

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he ripped his scrub gown and gloves off, shoving them in the bin. 

“You know who I mean,” she crossed her arms across her chest. “Jo’s sick. Like, pale and gross, running to the bathroom to empty her guts every few minutes, sick. 

“Yeah, she was feeling a bit under the weather this morning,” Alex nodded. 

“This morning?” Meredith questioned. “Why were you together this morning?” 

Alex rolled his eyes, ignoring her annoying questions. “Is she okay? Has anything happened?” 

“I sent her home; she was useless on my service,” Meredith said matter of factly. “Plus Bailey had the flu a few months ago and I didn’t need it getting back to my house. So I sent patient zero away before the plague spread.” 

“Maybe I should go and check on her,” Alex pondered. 

“Um, no!” Meredith slapped him across the shoulder. “Are you an idiot? Jo obviously doesn’t want to see you.” 

“I know her, okay? I know her better than I know anybody else in this entire messed-up world. Jo doesn’t ask for help, even when she needs it. She prefers to fix her problems on her own and not burden anyone else with what she has going on. But right now, since she was sick enough to let you send her home, I think she needs it. Jo needs my help,” Alex didn’t give Meredith a chance to argue his reasoning, pushing past her to exit through the door immediately. 

After off loading some of his chart work and patients onto the other pediatric attending on call, and rescheduling any other surgeries lined up, Alex made his way over to the loft he’d once shared with Jo. Driving as fast as he possibly could, anxiously tapping his hand against the steering wheel the whole way. It took him less than ten minutes until he was pulling outside her home, climbing the steps to the front door. 

He knocked loudly against the hardwood, announcing his presence with a boom, despite the sliding door being left slightly ajar by Jo. Alex had expected to find her in bed, or curled up on the couch, but as he peered with his head through the gap, she couldn’t be seen in either place. The lack of response and visible absence, worried him a lot. He couldn’t think of any reason why she wouldn’t have gone straight home from the hospital. It was unusual for Jo to not be at the loft. However, as audible retching sounded from the bathroom to his right, he realised that her silence wasn’t because she wasn’t home. She was as sick as Meredith made her out to be. 

“I’m coming in!” Alex pushed the sliding door to its side to make room for himself, quickly rounding the corner to push the bathroom door open. “Oh my god,” he gasped and knelt in front of her, nervous adrenaline building up inside of his chest at the sight of her red tear stricken face. He knew she was being stubborn, pretending to be doing better than she really was, but he wasn’t expecting her to be lying on the bathroom floor when he arrived. Something must have really been bothering her. 

“I don’t want you here,” she cried through sobs and tears. 

“Here,” Alex handed her a tissue, “take this.” 

She politely accepted, but her eyes said it all. She wasn’t happy to see him in the slightest. “I can take care of myself, Alex.” 

“I know you can,” he sighed sadly, “but you don’t have to. I want to help you.” 

“When are you going to get it through your head?” she bit her lip and looked away, trying to stop any more tears from falling. “You have no obligation to help me because it's not your place anymore. You and me, everything we had, is history now. I don’t want you to help me.” 

Alex bowed his head sadly, realising that Meredith was right when she’d said Jo didn’t want him around. “I’m sorry, I crossed a line. But you still shouldn’t be alone so I’m going to call somebody else to stay with you instead,” he leant on the edge of the sink to stand up and retrieve his phone out of his pocket. Before he had the chance to go through his contacts, however, his focus was taken by four distinct objects on the sink. The white sticks telling him everything he needed to know about why Jo was acting the way she was. 

“Alex…” her voice cracked, desperate to grab his attention back to her as she noticed his gaze was on the sink. “You don’t need to worry about it.” 

Brows furrowed in confusion, Alex looked between the sink and Jo’s position on the floor. His breathing getting heavier and heavier as time went on, tightness radiated in his chest. The dark pink lines on each stick burnt into his memory, both lines just as bold as the other, together confirming Jo’s pregnancy. At a complete loss for words and afraid of saying the wrong thing, his stare settled back on Jo, wide eyed and with his mouth agape. 

“Crazy, huh?” she broke the silence, before another wave of nausea sent her retching into the toilet bowl. Dry heaving as her now empty stomach failed to produce anything. 

Alex was quick on his feet to comfort her, pulling the hair out of Jo’s face and rubbing circles on her back. He felt her frustration grow as the heaving got worse and worse, the hair he was holding wet from her tears. “I’ve got you,” he hugged her tightly as her body relaxed against him, “you’re okay.” 

“No, I’m not,” she whimpered, “I’m a mess. I feel like shit, and I smell of vomit, and I want to be alone. Let me be alone.” 

“How long have you known?” Alex added shyly, hoping a change of topic will convince her to let him stay. 

“I’m not going to ask you again,” Jo groaned, “go away before I puke on you instead of in the toilet bowl.” 

“Let’s get you into bed first,” Alex suggested, relieved when she relented and allowed him to guide her out of the bathroom and towards the bed. “I know I’ve said it before, but I’m going to keep saying it until you believe me. I’m sorry, Jo.” 

“I know you are,” she spoke weakly. “I just need time.” 

  
  


***

  
  


He hadn’t intended to fall asleep on Meredith’s couch, let alone sleep the entire night there. If she hadn't come home and found him there, bundled in blankets and wallowing in self-pity, he probably wouldn’t have woken up for another couple of hours. Alex had originally planned to deliver Jo her favourite breakfast first thing in the morning, along with whatever morning sickness remedy he could find at the drugstore. But having not woken up until ten o’clock, he was annoyed to have missed his opportunity to see her before his shift. A shift he was already running late for. 

It wasn’t a shock when she’d spent the entirety of the work day avoiding him, that’s pretty much how things had been since the DeLuca incident. It almost made him grateful for missing the chance to see her earlier because Jo was clearly not ready to talk to him yet. However, what had shocked him, was when she’d call him in hysterics whilst he was driving home in the evening. 

“Hello?” he let himself into the loft, his heart breaking at the site of Jo curled up in the same spot he’d left her in the night before. “Oh Jo…” he next to her on the side of the bed, “What’s wrong?” 

“This isn’t how things were supposed to be,” she cradled her arm against her still flat stomach, crying into the pillow. 

Alex reached over, pulling the hood of her jacket down so that he could see her better, “What do you mean?” 

“My baby, our baby, deserves more than this. We deserve more than this. I love you so much it hurts, and yet, we can’t be together. I thought I knew you, but I obviously don’t, I can’t trust you anymore.” 

“That’s not true,” Alex defended. 

“It is true,” she argued back. “we’re not what we used to be. Before everything happened I would have been ecstatic to have a family with you, nervous yes, but excited. But now, with how we are, I don’t see where a baby fits. I don’t think I can do this, Alex.” 

“Listen,” he comforted, kicking his shoes off to climb into the bed next to her, “everything is going to be amazing.” 

“You don’t know that-” 

“Oh but I do,” he interjected. “I know you feel like you don’t know me anymore, like you can’t depend on me like you thought you could. But you can, Jo. You don’t need to be afraid of me because I will never hurt you, not ever. My dad was like that, and you know that. He was mean, cruel and violent, and he broke my family apart. I have spent every single day of my life since the day I first saw him hit my mother determined to be anything but and I intend to stick to that. I scared you that night, showed you a side of me that you’d never seen before, but you don’t need to be afraid of me ever laying a hand on you. I’m not like that.” 

“It still doesn’t fix the fact that you’re capable of doing it to somebody else,” Jo turned to look at him with tears glossed over her eyes. 

“I thought he was hurting you. I walked in, read the situation wrong and acted completely inappropriately. I will live with that for the rest of my life. But I only acted that way because I thought that you were in danger,” Alex let a tear of his own slip. “I will never let anything happen to our child.” 

“I believe you…” she moved closer into his embrace, suddenly relaxing at his touch as her entire body softened at his words. She had been feeling like a version of Alex had been lost since the incident, like she could no longer see the side of himself that made her feel safe. Jo desperately wanted to forgive him, to go back to how things were between them, but she didn’t truly know herself what had changed. She didn’t know what needed to happen to allow herself to trust Alex again. She didn’t, at least, until just then. “And I love you.” 

“I brought you something,” Alex moved away momentarily to retrieve an item from his bag. “Here, it’s the hat my mom brought me home in when I was born.” 

“Oh my god,” Jo held the green knitted hat in front of her, “it’s huge!” 

“Yeah, sorry about that. Karev babies have big heads,” he grinned at her mood change. 

“That’s it; I’m having a cesarean,” she joked. “But seriously, thank you. I love it. Did your mom knit this herself?” 

“Yeah, she used to love to knit when I was younger. I’m sure there’s lots more where that came from, especially from when Amber was a baby. Let’s home this baby is a girl.” 

“It better be a girl because I’m not dealing with another Karev male,” Jo giggled, her laugh like music to Alex’s ears. 

“So I’m yours again?” he said, testing the waters. 

“Just try and get rid of me,” Jo smiled widely, sitting up straighter to nuzzle her head into his shoulder. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: @mac-andcheeses


End file.
